What a Pretty Ring
by CretianStar
Summary: Evie is no ordinary Princess, so when she's held up by a highwayman, she doesn't do as expected. Some naughty language and a few implications. One shot.


A/N: So this is a pretty lengthy one. It was originally going in the Pocket Book, but it got out of hand and instead will be a solo story.

This all started because I bought new jewellery this weekend...

* * *

"What a pretty ring." The husky voice made her look into the eyes of bandit before her and for a moment she was struck by the laughter in them. Then she remembered that the man before her was actually holding her up, a gun was pointed at her companion and the stranger's grip was a little too tight on her wrist.

"I think so too." Evie managed to keep her voice level and calm, and she was vainly pleased to see the surprise flit across his features.

There had been rumours of a new gang operating around the Enchanted Forest, that footpads and highwaymen had started haranguing the good people of the kingdom. Evie hadn't thought too much of it, but she was determined to get a head start on her long journey across to Charmington and had left just before dusk fell. That clearly was a mistake. The gang that were now delaying her journey were undoubtedly headed by the rogue that held her hand and she stared at him in a calculating way.

Evie was no ordinary heiress, she was a woman with a brain in her head, an unquiet tongue in her mouth and a dagger in her purse if necessary. The knife she decided was not going to be touched just yet, it was a last resort and she didn't feel too threatened yet. The man before her was an interesting case, and he sent thoughts whirling around her head. His eyes were alight with mirth, and he seemed more human than other highwaymen she had had the misfortune to meet. He had a few stray locks of brown hair sneaking out from under his tricorn hat, and irrationally Evie was itching to stroke them from his forehead. His coat had buttoned up to a mask around his face, and Evie had to admit, she was almost jealous of the long trench coat that kept him warm on a rather bitter autumn night. She sensed his impatience and so she flexed her fingers to ensure that her rings caught the light of the torches near them.

"Very pretty indeed." He purred, and when Evie looked at him, she saw his gaze was firmly fixed on her and not her jewellery. She smirked, all men were the same.

"Well I wouldn't have chosen the pieces if they didn't suit my style. I'm very careful with making sure that I only have things that I like the look of." Her words with loaded, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh really now."

"Really, it's why the diamond is my most treasured piece and I would so hate to lose it." This bluff had worked three times already, and she was praying it would again.

"Well, if that's the case, that's the piece I'll take then." Evie hid her smile, and adopted an injured look.

"Dear Sir…" She feebly protested, but he was already sliding the ring from her finger, leaving the sapphire and the emerald firmly on her other fingers.

"Maybe the necklace as well…" He hummed, gesturing for a torch to be brought closer and it caught the light sparkling from the showy chain that hung above her breasts. "Do you want me to take it off?" The twinkle in his eyes had not yet left and so with a smirk Evie turned around, bunched her loose hair in her hands, carefully keeping her remaining rings hidden in her tresses, and exposed the back of her neck for him. She heard his slight intake of breath and held her countenance. She heard him peel off his leather gloves, felt the roughness of his touch as he handled the clasp on her chain and as she turned back, she caught sight of a scar that ran across the back of his hand. It was thick and white and seemed to run under the sleeves of his shirt. Her brain went into overdrive.

Her face still gave nothing away, if there was one thing mama Queen had been determined to instil in her daughter, it was to always keep a neutral expression, it would unnerve enemies and friends alike. While her face looked bereaved at the loss of her necklace, her brain whirled over the new information. He had pulled his glove back on quickly, and he quickly scanned her face but was relieved to see her pouting at the loss of the chain.

"Am I allowed to leave?" She said almost waspishly and the man's face seemed to light up in a smile.

"By all means my lady. I think we are done with you now."

"Thank you, I wish you a pleasant evening." She turned back from the window, watching with no small amount of relief as the gang stepped back from her carriage and with a tap on the roof, her coachman hurried the horses forward.

She said nothing until they were out of the Forest. She held her companion closely, the woman was younger than her and not as hardened to the world as Evie was.

"Sshh Dizz, it's okay, I got you."

"You let them take the diamonds." She whispered.

"They're zirconia. I never travel with my real diamonds anymore." Evie smiled as Dizzy sat upright.

"Really?!"

"Really, really. Besides, the sapphire and the emerald mean far more to me than my diamonds." She stroked the old-fashioned cuts on the rings he had left behind and sat back against the chair. "We'll stop in Auradonia I think." She tapped on the roof, and as the carriage slowed down, she pulled down the window and leant out of it to converse with her driver. Evie was no ordinary kind of princess.

~Evie~

It was a good few hours before Auradonia came into sight, and the carriage had made her back stiff. The sun would be coming up in a few hours and Evie groaned at the thought. Maybe setting off at dusk had been a bad idea.

No it hadn't.

Evie had barely slept a wink, instead her brain had been turning over the information she had learnt tonight. She knew who her highwayman was. She was sure of it. She couldn't prove it, but she was sure of it. The scar across the right wrist was pretty unique, but her thief had had a pure English accent, the man she was thinking of was Scottish through and through, with a disdain for the English, refusing to master the plummy tones of the ton.

The scar, and the eyes. Two pieces of information that her brain kept running over even while she slept fitfully against the padded sides of the carriage. When they pulled up into the courtyard of the King's Rose inn, she shook herself awake, and then she gently woke Dizzy. She had a plan in her head, and it would involve delaying her spa trip to Charmington a few days.

~Evie~

"You're accepting the invitation?" Snow White with some surprise.

"If it still stands, yes please." Evie looked at her stepsister who smiled warmly.

"Of course, I've been trying to get you to some of the bigger events for too long now! Yes, come with me!" She wrapped her younger stepsister in a hug and the pair fell into planning co-ordinating outfits for the party ahead of them.

"Queen Snow White, and Princess Evelyn of the Enchanted Forest."

"I hate the use of my full name." Evie grumbled as the pair smiled and sailed into the ballroom.

"At least your mama gave you a proper name and not a description of a season." Snow sniggered as they made the curtsies to the King and Queen of Auradon before settling themselves in a good position to watch the comings and goings of the party.

It was many hours, and many dances later before Evie got where she wanted. She had seen him enter almost after her and Snow, but it wouldn't do to simply march over there and start talking. Instead, he came to collect her for his dance and with a knowing look from Snow, the pair moved to join the other dance partners.

"Princess." The thick accent made her smile and he gave her an enquiring look as they moved into the correct hold.

"Captain." A slow dance, the pavane, just what Evie needed to investigate the man that held her now. There was the scar on his wrist, it travelled from between his ring and middle finger, up the back of his hand and vanished under the sleeve of his jacket. It was thick and faded, but it was unmistakeable.

"Still staring eh lass?" He murmured as the music started and she blushed prettily. A trick she had learnt from the age of five.

"Sorry Captain." She said in a low voice as the dancers started to move. She stared up at him in apology and she was gifted with a small smile. Just a slight turning up of the corners of his mouth and for a moment she concentrated on the dance. Soon her mind started to tackle her problem once more and she was trying to work out if his height was about right when he leant closer and whispered in her ear.

"Penny for your thoughts." His breath tickled her neck and she let out a soft laugh.

"You'd never believe me in a million years Captain." She whispered back and this time he chuckled.

"I might." She stared up at him and caught the twinkling smile in his eyes, and decided to take the plunge.

"If you can keep a secret, I would appreciate a moment of your time on the balcony with a glass of punch…" She said lightly and the corners of his mouth twitched in laughter.

"I would be happy to help." He dipped his head and after finishing the pavane, the pair slid to join other couples clustered on the patio, just on the right side of scandalous. "So do tell me." He stared down at the neatly tendered gardens while sipping the sickeningly sweet punch and avoiding Evie's eyes.

"Promise to keep it a secret?" She tipped her own sugary punch onto the planters below and placed her empty glass on the stone balustrade. He nodded, intrigued by the blue haired princess before him.

"Someone stole from me on my way here." She murmured.

"Have you told the authorities lass?"

"No, what can I offer them? A man with brown hair on a horse took from me my diamond ring and my diamond necklace, he had a mask on and a tricorn… there's nothing vaguely remarkable about that description." She sighed and didn't imagine the relief that flitted across his face.

"But lass…"

"It's fine Captain, because what that thief doesn't know is that he never took diamonds. He took zirconia." She watched with a hidden smile as his hand twitch into a fist and then flex back out. "Too many times I have been held up around this land that I take matters into my own hands these days and I never travel with diamonds." She flexed her own fingers, ensuring they caught the light streaming from the room and he glanced down at the stones still left there to glitter.

"Ingenious I must say. I imagine the thief will be furious." His voice was husky and she turned to face him properly. She would turn on the full Evie charm, a charm that wooed many and hurt many more.

"Thank you kindly. But as I repeat to you **again** Captain Hook, I choose things that suit me." Discreetly her fingers moved towards his, her touch at first fluttering like a butterfly on his wrist. He turned over his hand, palm side up, allowing her fingers to tap across his open palm before sliding them down his wrist, almost up his sleeve. Then her grip tightened. "I like beautiful things Captain Hook, and you are one such thing. You can keep my zirconia, but if we meet again in the same circumstances, know that I will not be so kind."

"Oh." Her nails left dents in his wrist and for a moment Harry was stunned.

"I wish you a pleasant evening." Before his brain could register Evie's threat, she picked up his hand, kissed the scarred knuckles and swept back into the ballroom.

"Well fuck me." He murmured. His skin tingled where she had kissed it and he could only stare at her silhouette as it merged with others.

~Harry~

Months passed before Harry saw Evie again. He had been back at sea with his crew, navigating the Strait of Ursula and acting as a convoy for merchant vessels that were having issues on the Northern Passage.

After their brief encounter on the balcony, he had followed her back inside determined to talk to her, but he had been unable to get her on her own again, she was always with someone. He resolved to talk to her tomorrow at the Queen's soiree but when he arrived, fidgeting in his tails as always, Evie was not there. Snow White was, and at his idle query on her stepsister's whereabouts Snow had smiled and casually mentioned that she had continued her journey down to Charmington.

From the brisk autumn night when Evie had first been held up, it was a warm spring evening when she heard the shout of voices and she let out a deep sigh. Taking off her sapphire and emerald ring, she slid them in a panel that she had specially built into her carriage for such issues and slid on the cheap glass replicas that she kept in the space. Just in time too as the light shone into the carriage.

"Your Highness, they look rather heavy, I would like to relieve you of their burden to your poor delicate fingers." The rough accent made her sigh, but with a searching look at the man before her, she slid the rings from her fingers and dropped them into his open palm. But the rougher voiced man was moved out of the way and replaced with her original highwayman.

"Travelling alone princess?" The plummy English voice made her shake her head.

"When it's a crime be sure to arrest me." She said drily, opening her carriage door. "Get in Captain, I have little time for this." She snapped and the face frowned. "Now Captain." She ground out and threw the door open wider. "Tell your men to move." She growled and when he didn't move, she snatched the gun from his hand, dragged him in with her free hand and balanced herself on the edge of her carriage door.

"Och." The English accent had slipped as she manhandled him but she leant out and aimed the weapon at the nearest man.

"Step back." She warned. "Higgins, move on, the ruffian and I need to have words." When someone swarmed forwards she fired one warning shot into the air. There was stunned astonishment for the gang around her but Higgins moved the already anxious horses on fast and Evie slammed the door shut as they sped away from the clearing.

"What the bloody hell…" The Scottish accent was thick and she held the gun in a tight grip.

"Honestly Harry Hook, I warned you." She briskly unbuttoned the coat around his face and tugged it down, revealing his gobsmacked expression.

"You know lass this is the second time you've left me speechless." He eyed the gun, his guard coming back up into place.

"Oh don't even." She snapped, yanking down the window, briefly leaning out and securing the gun to the luggage rack at the back of the carriage before pulling herself back in. "Right Captain." She sat back against the chair and pulled her windswept hair back into place. "What am I going to do with you now?" She glared at him. He glared back in the dim light of the carriage.

"How did you know it was me?" He shifted on the seat and crossed his arms over his chest.

"The scar on your hand." She nodded to his gloved hands and watched as his fists tightened before he let out a hollow laugh.

"So what now?" He leant forward. "Will the next time you see me be when I'm strung up on the gibbet at the crossroads?" She could see the fear beneath a cool calm and she leant forwards as well.

"Why would I waste a national hero on a gibbet? Captain Henry Hook, sailor extraordinaire, captain of HMS Jolly Roger, saving merchants and civilians alike? Yeah I don't think that will work." She smiled.

"There's many that would love to accuse me of being a privateer."

"Pirates are an ocean thing, highwaymen are a land thing." She said pointedly and he couldn't stop his laugh. "But in truth, no why would I waste a good man to a bad death?"

"You think I'm a good man?"

"I think you can be."

"I think you gave your pretty rings away." He said with a crooked smile. She let out a laugh and smacked the roof of the carriage, making him jump.

"Oh Harry Hook." She closed the distance and lightly pressed a kiss to his lips. "You think I travel with my real jewellery?" She kissed him again, and took advantage of his astonishment. "I wish you a pleasant evening." She gripped the lapel of his jacket, opened the door of the carriage and unceremoniously shoved him out and slammed it behind him. She leant out of the window and blew a kiss, her driver already moving on as the door closed. By the time Harry had jumped to his feet Evie's carriage was in the distance and he realised with a start that she had dropped him off at the Crossed Swords Inn where he had been staying.

It would be half an hour before Evie's carriage trundled into the courtyard of her home. There were sconces lit around the building, but it was empty. Her retinue of staff had long gone to bed, used to the weird antics of the Princess they served.

"Well that seems clever." The driver leapt down from the box and Evie huffed.

"Nu-uh." She held up one finger to silence her friend.

"Yeahh. Come on E."

"Do you have anything constructive or helpful to add Carlos de Vil?"

"Yes, when are you going to marry the man?" He laughed and dodged out of the way as she swiped at him. Instead he tended to the horses, hearing her scoff behind him as she stepped down. "Don't give me that look Evelyn Regina. You wait, I will place money on Captain Hook calling on you this week while he's on leave."

"Sometimes I really hate that you're my spy." She started to undo the tack from the horses as Carlos pulled them free of the carriage.

"You love it." Carlos said smugly. Carlos also knew that Harry had been to see Snow White, but he wasn't sharing that fact with Evie. Mostly because he knew what kind of meltdown it would cause.

"Carlos, shut up."

"For you Princess, of course."

"You drive better than I expected, I know Higgins was nervous letting you have access to my carriage." She mocked lightly, leading the horses into the stables, the dark row of stalls lit by candles in glass sconces.

"Evie, shut up." He sniggered, and the pair fell into laughter.

~Evie~

**One Year Later**

"Stand and deliver!" The voice that called out across the night made Evie sigh and press her head against the frame of the window of her carriage in defeat.

Pulling the window down, she stuck her head out and looked at the motley crew gathered around her.

"Harry Hook, get in the damn carriage." She called out and there were peals of laughter from the assembled men.

"See, the boss has spoken." They all murmured as Harry slid from his horse and undid the door.

"Damn right I have, now get back to your own wives and families." She ordered and despite the slight ribbing, each man did as he was told, moving away from the carriage as Evie closed the door behind her erstwhile husband.

"Well my love." He started to say until she all but knocked his tricorn from his head and yanked open the buttons on his old coat.

"I know this almost a tradition now, but you don't have to do it every time you're back from sea." She growled, her hands having moved to the tie on his jacket, and then the buttons on his shirt. He let out a throaty laugh at her impatience, but it turned into something more as she all but clambered in his lap, her skirts bunched at her waist before she kissed him hard.

"Lass…" He growled.

"I've waited all day for you to come home, your ship docked at half nine this morning!" She pouted between kisses.

"Well like you've said it's tradition."

"Well the _other _tradition is now going to have to happen in the carriage, and not in a bed like I wanted it to."

"Ohh…" Harry's words tapered into a low moan. His fingers intertwined with hers and as he caught her left hand, he pulled it up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"Do not say it." Her engagement and wedding rings barely visible in the dim light of the carriage but he had pressed them against his lips.

"What a pretty ring." He grinned and any laughter was muffled as she leant down to kiss him hard.

"You're lucky I don't push you out of this carriage and wish you a pleasant evening." She grumbled, but his response was to wrap himself around his fair Princess and persuade her that she definitely wanted to travel home with him.


End file.
